Her name is Thylane Lena-Rose Blondeau.
You may not immediately recognise her name but chances are you’ve seen her face before.
She appeared in the Tom Ford-edited issue of French Vogue heavily made-up in adult-size gold heels reclining on a tiger rug earlier this year.
Those images caused plenty of controversy at the time, yet the pre-teen model’s portfolio hasn’t slowed down, in fact judging by the amount of images that can be found of her on the internet, it has dramatically expanded.
She now has her own Facebook page and a dedicated Tumblr – which has been renamed from “F–k Yeah Thylane Blondeau” to “Thylane Blondeau Pictures.”
The owner of the Tumblr explains the name change was due to the large volume of emails she received when the controversy hit the media three days ago, which were one of two reactions, “either messages about how much [people] love her or that she’s a prostitute.”
The daughter of former French international football player Patrick Blondeau and Véronika Loubry, an actress and television presenter, her first foray into fashion was on the runway at age 4 for Jean Paul Gaultier. She has already been compared to Bridgette Bardot, who incidentally appeared in Elle at age 15.
The fashion industry has always celebrated pretty young things, but it’s current thirst for younger and younger models is now bordering on creepy. 13-year-old Elle Fanning is the current face of the Marc by Marc Jacobs autumn/winter campaign and 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld has also signed a deal with fashion label, Miu Miu.
Admittedly I momentarily let myself get swept up in these compelling images. I let my mind drift off to this seemingly beautiful life and wondered where I could buy that grey beanie. But by the time I got to the second page of her Tumblr fan site, I was sufficiently creeped out.